The woman who had disappeared without a trace for ten years.
Yvonne Xander.
Tears glistened in my parents' eyes as they hugged her tightly.
"Yvonne, you’re back. That’s all that matters." as my dad said.
"What do you want to eat? We’ll make anything for you." my mom also welcame her.
Tyler clung to her like a koala.
"Mom, you’re finally home! Now I’ll never have to be alone again!"
Even David, who had always been as cold as ice, was smiling like a fool.
"I knew it, Yvonne. I knew you wouldn’t be able to forget me."
They surrounded her with joy, as if the devastation she had left behind when she abandoned them had never existed.
As if the heartbreak, the desperation, the years of waiting—had all been just a lie.
I remembered how my parents had begged me to stay when I said I was leaving.
My father had collapsed from a heart attack.
My mother had cried until her eyes were nearly blind.
And yet, now— it was as if I had never been there at all.
They used to say Yvonne had no heart.
I helped stabilize the company, defended it against the Gunn Family's suppression.
And when they pushed me onto David’s bed, I knew full well that marrying into the Gunn Family would be like stepping into a pit of fire.